Joe Murphy

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT JOE MURPHY - PAGE 4

Joe Murphy jump-started a sluggish Blackhawk attack here Tuesday night, but the Hawks may have to keep rolling without him again for a while. It was Murphy's assist on Bernie Nicholls' short-handed goal in the second period that broke a logjam and opened the way for a flood of goals in a 7-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks. Nicholls ended up scoring his third hat trick of the season and Chris Chelios had five assists for the first time in his career, but Murphy had to leave the game soon after a third-period brawl with a knee injury.

Three teenage boys were charged Saturday with murder for allegedly killing a 72-year-old man during a carjacking on the South Side, police said. P.L. Patterson was shot to death Friday afternoon after the boys allegedly forced him from a car he was warming up for an ill friend in a parking lot near 81st Street and Vincennes Avenue, authorities said. Antwain Morgan, 16; Darryl Dawson, 16; and Gerald Smith, 17, were charged with murder and aggravated vehicular hijacking after they confessed to the crimes, said Calumet Area violent crimes Lt. Joe Murphy.

Chicago Police Officer Michael Flisk dedicated himself to crime scenes, looking for answers, and left scenes covered in evidence powder, leading to his nickname, “Dusty.” He valued family and friendship above all else, engendering dedication from those who served with him, fellow officers recalled. Tearful police officers joined Flisk's wife and four children to retire his star in a ceremony at Chicago Police headquarters Wednesday morning. Flisk, 46, was gunned down while investigating a burglary on Nov. 26 in a alley.

The Blackhawks were without the services of scorer Joe Murphy in Thursday night's game with the New York Islanders. Murphy's wife, Julie, went into labor earlier in the day and the winger returned to Chicago to be at her side for their first child. Since Murphy had two goals, one a game-winner, and five points in the previous two games, his absence took away a key part of the Hawks' offense. He is expected to rejoin the club in Florida for Saturday afternoon's game against Tampa Bay. - Hockey in New York is different than elsewhere.

It was eight hours after he had played in the Blackhawks' longest game in 35 years and Jeremy Roenick's eyes were as bright as diamonds even though his body was still bone-weary. "If we had to play tonight," Roenick said Wednesday morning, "I couldn't do it." But, thanks to Joe Murphy's goal at 10 minutes 2 seconds of the third overtime in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the Blackhawks won't have to play again for another week. Murphy's goal on an assist from Murray Craven, ending the fourth-longest game in team history, gave the Hawks a 2-1 victory and a four-game sweep over the Calgary Flames in their Stanley Cup first-round playoff series.

Joe Murphy and the Blackhawk coaches, past and present, have always been on the same page. Trouble is, they haven't always been reading the same book. Murphy and the coaching staff agree that when the Hawks' right winger is working hard on both ends of the ice, there are few better players in the National Hockey League. But they disagree on how often he does that. "He's a great athlete and he can score," says coach Craig Hartsburg. "But we don't say, `OK, you're a scorer,' or `you're a checker.

Tony Granato's two third-period goals and Jeff Friesen's two-goal, one-assist performance lifted the San Jose Sharks to a 5-4 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night. Granato's first goal tied the game 4-4 at 6:28 of the third period. His game-winner came on a short-handed situation with 7:07 left when he picked up a missed shot by Marcus Ragnarsson and scored from 8 feet. San Jose improved to 4-1-2 in its last seven games. Los Angeles, which plays host to the Blackhawks on Saturday night, lost its fifth straight and eighth in its last 10. Joe Murphy also scored for San Jose.

OK, so Bill Wirtz says Jeremy Roenick need not be checking out the best prices on moving vans, that his assets outweigh his occasional biting comments. But there is another restricted free agent on the Blackhawks for team ownership to consider when rich matching offers come along, a player who also had an early-season blowup with the bosses. Joe Murphy gave the Hawks reason to rethink his underachiever label when he buried a shot in the eye of the needle in Game 3 of this Western Conference semifinal.

Blackhawk coach Craig Hartsburg said he spent the last three days worrying about Monday night's game against the Ottawa Senators, and nothing he saw in the first 30 minutes eased that queasy feeling in his gut. Then the Blackhawks exploded for a pair of goals in 23 seconds and were on their way to a 7-3 victory over the worst team in the National Hockey League. Hartsburg might have had good cause to worry inasmuch as the Blackhawks are one of the few teams to lose to the lowly Senators, who have now won only once in the 18 games since they whipped the Hawks in Chicago.

The name's Black. James Black. Not Jim. Not Jimmy. "James is good," he says when asked his preference. James is good, it turns out. Better than most people had expected when the Blackhawks called him up in the wake of injuries to Jeremy Roenick and Murray Craven. Black had four points, including a pair of goals, in his first three games since arriving from Indianapolis, and Wednesday night he was playing a regular shift again on a line with Denis Savard and Joe Murphy.